


you think this is a game?

by chanyeonot



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, i love trans siberian orchestra, idek what this is, mark is me when ppl question my music taste, what even is this ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-10 22:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11701344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chanyeonot/pseuds/chanyeonot
Summary: mark has to listen to trans-siberian orchestra (techno christmas music) to sleep and donghyuck is .02 seconds away from strangling him





	you think this is a game?

**Author's Note:**

> if you haven't heard any tso songs, i strongly suggest listening to carol of the bells and wizards in winter before reading this. helps with the context. (also, tso is the shit. i love them.)
> 
> this fic came from a good idea but it devolved so quickly rip

Donghyuck was absolutely exhausted. He practically tripped over the threshold of the dorms and stumbled into approximately five large pieces of furniture on his way to his room. Somewhere in the hazy corners of his mind he vaguely registered the rest of his bandmates following him in. Taeyong called something after him, he thought, but all he could manage was a weak "mmhmm" and a small arm jerk in his hyung's general direction to show he'd heard what he'd said (which he didn't, really).

He finally reached his bed and collapsed onto it, bone-tired from the ridiculously hard day of practice. His voice felt scratchy and his legs had been replaced with jell-o and there was a good chance his brain was actually frozen. What he needed at this moment was a full, peaceful night of sleep.

He didn't even have enough energy to get under the blankets, so he stayed splayed out on top of his covers and easily forgot the fact that he needed to brush his teeth. Sleep, sleep, sleep…

Suddenly, the sharp strum of an electric guitar poked at the edges of his consciousness. Then some Christmas bells joined in and Donghyuck groaned. _Please_ , he thought to himself. _Not again_.

"Mark…" he whined out, not bothering to open his eyes.

He felt the air stop moving as his roommate stilled. "Hyuck?" Mark whispered, like he'd just been caught holding Johnny's secret stash of potato chips in the middle of the night.

Donghyuck groaned in response. A scraping synthesizer hopped in with the electric guitar and jingle bells. Even though he knew the answer, he asked anyway, "Do you have to listen to that goddamn music?"

"I'm really sorry Hyuck," Mark said by way of reply. "I thought you were asleep."

"I was," Donghyuck deadpanned. When Mark didn't turn the music off or even lower the volume, the younger boy groaned again and rolled over to shove his face into his pillow. He felt a blanket shift over his body and figured Mark probably put it over him when he came in.

He heard Mark move under the covers of his own bed. A song Donghyuck could now definitively identify as Carol of the Bells kept blasting from Mark's speaker. Donghyuck would've screamed if he'd had the energy.

Minutes later, Donghyuck heard soft snores coming from Mark's bed. The younger boy rolled to the edge of the bed and slid his legs off to plant his feet on the floor. He rolled the rest of his body up onto his feet and dragged himself into the living room, his blanket trailing behind him. He plopped onto the couch and, with Carol of the Bells still emanating faintly from his and Mark's room, succumbed to sleep once more.

—

"Donghyuck-ah?"

Donghyuck groaned. "Go away."

"What are you doing out here?" the voice, which Donghyuck registered to be Taeil's, asked.

"Mark," he explained without opening his eyes.

"He's still listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra?"

Two weeks ago, Mark had started listening to music by an orchestra that included electric guitars and techno-sounding instruments. Donghyuck didn't initially mind TSO—he could've probably played air guitar to their music without being too embarrassed of himself—but Mark played it really loudly every single night to help him sleep and the younger boy developed a negative association with the music. Because while Donghyuck was the number one supporter of Mark Lee Getting The Sleep He Needs, it was hard for him to keep waving his big foam hand around when he couldn't even get the sleep he needed himself.

Donghyuck cracked his eyes open to look up at Taeil. Light filtered in through the blinds on the living room windows. "I'm going to kill him."

Taeil nodded sympathetically. "How about you come eat some breakfast before you murder your best friend."

At the table, Donghyuck ate the food lovingly prepared by Taeyong while he stared tired daggers into Mark's face. He was still exhausted, and he intended to make Mark feel as bad about it as he could. Unfortunately, he older boy seemed oblivious to Donghyuck's accusatory glare. The rest of the members were, however, not, and there was an odd sort of awkward tension surrounding the meal.

During dance practice, all Donghyuck could hear were the techno jingle bells ringing in his head. He missed his moves and cues at least ten times because their choreography didn't match that goddamn Christmas music at all. He understood that the music helped Mark sleep, but there were things like earbuds that he could use to help Donghyuck sleep.

The whole day was a mess, and Donghyuck spent every spare moment thinking about different ways he could make Mark's death look like an accident. If Johnny and/or Chittaphon volunteered to help him, it would open up more possibilities.

After the disaster of the last 19 hours, Donghyuck fell onto his bed and managed to blindly crawl under his blankets. Mark followed him into the room and went to change into his pajamas. Seconds later, the song Donghyuck had heard enough times to recognize as Wizards in Winter began clawing its way out of Mark's speaker. He took a deep breath. _Mark was his best friend, Mark was his best friend, Mark was his best friend_ —

Mark, his best friend, began humming along to the atrocious music, and that's when Donghyuck snapped.

"Alright," he said sharply, sitting up. All exhaustion was quickly replaced with rage and he focused it all on Mark, who was suddenly looking at him with wide eyes. "If you don't turn off that fucking music, I'm going to shove your speaker up your ass."

Mark's brows shot up. "What?"

Donghyuck shouted over the electronic music. "I am so sick and tired of your fucking Trans-Siberian Orchestra shit. Does my health and happiness mean nothing to you? And why are you listening to Christmas music in the middle of July, what the fuck! I swear to god if you keep playing that I will walk out of this room and I will never talk to you again."

"Wait… my music actually bothers you?" Mark asked, seemingly bewildered at the words coming out of Donghyuck's mouth.

Donghyuck blinked at him. "Are you fucking kidding me? You think this is a game? You think I've been complaining about your music just to make fun of you?"

"Yes," Mark said without hesitation, and Donghyuck suddenly realized that there was no legitimate reason for Mark to actually believe he was serious; he _did_ complain about nearly everything Mark did just to make fun of him. But Mark was his best friend—he was supposed to _know_ when Donghyuck was serious. The cutting edge of hyped instrumental Christmas music filled the silence of Donghyuck's thoughts.

"Well, I wasn't kidding. That music makes me want to rip my ears out."

"Oh, Hyuck, I'm sorry," Mark said. He scrambled to turn the music down. "I'll keep it quieter. I'm really so sorry."

"Thank you," Donghyuck said, pleasantly surprised at the easy solution. Now that his brain wasn't screaming, exhaustion overcame him again, and he fell into the first peaceful sleep since Mark started listening to TSO's music two weeks ago.

—

Donghyuck jolted awake to deafeningly loud techno Christmas music blasting right next to his ears. He jerked upright, suddenly very very awake. The bass pounded into his skull, his heartbeat started racing, and his hands pulled up to cover his ears. His head snapped to the left to see Mark standing over him, holding his speaker right in front of Donghyuck's face.

"What the fuck!" Donghyuck screamed over the music.

"Your taste in music is shit! TSO is the best! You should be able to sleep with this heavenly music!" Mark screamed back, and he promptly dropped his speaker with a strangled shriek when Donghyuck let loose a war cry and lunged for Mark's throat.

(Johnny and Yuta tore the boys apart and everyone else rushed to turn of the screeching music that had rudely woken them all up. Both boys got a talking to by mother Taeyong and in the end Mark was forced to keep the music down and Donghyuck was forced to do the older boy's chores for a week in return for nearly taking his life.)

**Author's Note:**

> i realize that if donghyuck actually asked mark to stop playing his music so loud mark would turn down the volume to the lowest possible setting and he'd like bake donghyuck cookies to apologize but,,,


End file.
